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Sunday January 27, 2008 "Praying For The Impossible" Acts 12:1-11 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 1/28/2008 11:39 AM | The implication is clear, isn’t it?
If we pay attention to this story of Peter’s escape from prison, we are clearly led to believe that there is a direct connection between the escape and the fact that “the church prayed fervently to God for him.”
We want to believe it, don’t we? You know, that God answers our heartfelt prayers. Of course we want to believe it. In fact, there are times when we simply ache to believe it. But sometimes, when we are at our lowest, when danger seems to be closing in, we may have our doubts.
If you haven’t been there, I dare say you will. A situation seems completely untenable and beyond our control. A dear friend or loved one is gravely ill and doctors don’t seem to know what to do. Someone we care about is caught in the throes of addictive behavior and refuses to see the problem. We are desparately lonely in the wake of loss and not sure where to go for a comforting presence.
And so we pray. With all our heart we pray fervently for our situation, our friends, our loved ones, ourselves. We pray for miracles. We pray for the impossible.
That’s where the church of Jesus Christ was in its earliest stages. Theirs was not an easy road. They had to claim their faith in the midst of religious and political persecution. There were people who wanted the church squashed because of the threat to the existing religious institution. There were people who wanted the church squashed because of the threat to the existing political system.
Remember, their situation is not our situation. They could not worship openly and freely. They could not declare aloud their belief that the messiah had come because the power structure of the Temple and synagogues would have lost their power. Be clear, the threat of this new church was not to the Jewish people, nor did the whole of the Jewish people react as if it was a threat. No, the threat was to the Jewish power structure, for if the messiah had come, and come in the form of this man Jesus, they would be out of power, for he preached against everything they stood for. So, this power structure did not want the average, everyday faithful Jew to get wind of this new movement, lest they too would be swayed.
The political power structure was also at risk. They knew of the prophets predictions of the coming messiah. A messiah that would be called King and would restore the political fortunes of Israel as once King David once did. A messiah would have as the first order of business the destruction of the entrenched Roman power structure.
In this context, we find a small band of followers of Jesus doing their best to heed his call: to make disciples of the world. To spread the word that the Messiah had come, and the messiah was coming back! To build a faith community that kept the God revealed through Jesus Christ at the center of their worship, and all their waking lives.
The book of Acts gives us some insight into how the Holy Spirit moved among these people as they banded together as the church of Jesus Christ. It gives us some idea of just how much of an uphill battle they fought. It gives us a wonderful model of perseverance as rarely seen anywhere before or since.
This lesson we heard this morning is a microcosm of all that rolled into one important story of faith, and hardship, and prayer, and miracles.
The context for this story begins with the stoning of Stephen and all that signaled to the followers of Jesus. But it did not stop their preaching or teaching, it simply scattered the church to many places. Many fled Jerusalem to take up ministries elsewhere. Seems like a smart move to me. The martyrs message had been heard, loud and clear, and now it was up to the other followers of Jesus to find a way to continue to spread that message.
Enter Herod Agrippa, King of Judea. Herod Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great. Herod the Great, you may remember, was the Herod who so feared the birth of Jesus that he ordered what is known as the “slaughter of the innocents” with the hope that the newly born messiah would be one of those killed. Herod Agrippa is also the nephew of Herod Antipas, the Herod of Luke’s Gospel who allowed Jesus to be put to death at Pilate’s order. Herod Agrippa arrives on the scene with a family history of bloodlust and paranoia when it came to a messiah that might upset plans.
Herod Agrippa, we are told, “laid violent hands upon those who belonged to the church.” James, the brother of John, was killed. And the scripture tells us that Herod was emboldened when he saw how this pleased “the Jews.”
We need to be very careful here. Many scholars warn us about reading this as “the Jewish people.” The threat of the messiah’s church was not to the Jewish people as a whole, but to those who held power only while the coming of the messiah was still a future event. Many false messiahs had risen up, and had disappeared. The Jewish people can and did make up their own minds about these pretenders. But this threat of Jesus and his followers is too big to ignore. And so, we must read this as “the Jewish leadership” if we are to understand the whole picture.
Herod Agrippa was emboldened by this support from the Jewish leaders and the implication is that there was an alliance of like interests between Herod and the leaders. So, Herod went even further. He had the recognized head of the church, Peter, imprisoned. His plan was to have Peter put to death. Peter, whom Jesus declared “the rock upon which I will build my church.”
Herod clearly had some inkling what a devastating blow this would be to the church, and he wanted nothing to go wrong. He had four squads of soldiers guard him. Four squads! We’re not sure just how many soldiers this means, but clearly, Herod wanted no mistakes. Peter could not be allowed to escape.
“While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.”
What did they pray? Did they pray for a miraculous escape? Did they pray that he might not suffer the abuse about to be heaped on him? Did they pray that Herod Agrippa might change his mind? Did they pray that God would graciously welcome Peter into the heavenly banquet when Herod had him put to death?
Can you think of a more dire situation? Can you think of a more hopeless situation? Have you ever been in such a situation? Has the possibility of escape from the grip of disease, of addiction, of devastating personal loss, of irreversible economic disaster ever had you wondering just where you would turn? When you found the strength to pray, how did you pray? For what did you pray?
We are not told what the church prayed. We are told, however, that something miraculous happened.
Peter, in prison, is literally tapped on the shoulder by an angel. Basking in the bright light, Peter’s chains fell away, the angel ordered him to get dressed, and then led Peter out of the prison to the outside gate. When they reached the gate, it swung open of it’s own accord and suddenly, Peter was free. And Peter knew who to thank.
He needed a miracle, and he got it.
I have read treatises on this and other miracles of the Bible that sought to explain away the miracle. That is, there are folks out there who want to discount the possibility of Peter’s escape being a miracle that they concoct all kinds of scenarios: his imprisonment was a dream, or the angel was really someone in Herod’s court who was sympathetic to the church and thus arranged to have Peter escape.
Why can’t they accept that it was a miracle? I think there are two reasons. First, some people simply can’t believe in something they cannot explain. Well, guess what? The world is filled with hundreds, thousands of things that I cannot explain. Does this make them any less real?
The second reason that faithful people might want to discount the existence of miracles is that they don’t seem to be granted equally. Jesus performed miracles. Peter was the recipient of this miracle. Throughout the centuries, claims of miraculous healings, angelic visitations and the like have been reported. But where’s my miracle?
If we are to pray for the impossible, and we believe that God answers prayers, how do we reconcile the fact that in our lives, the impossible that we pray for does not seem to come to pass? What kind of God refuses to answer the prayer of good faithful people?
I don’t want to explain away miracles. I don’t want to try and convince you that there was some “natural” explanation to Peter’s escape. It was clearly an impossible situation, yet Peter escaped from that impossible situation and went on to become one of the important architects of Christ’s church.
But what about us? Does God answer our prayers? Absolutely. Of course, we should know that sometimes the answer is “no.” And sometimes we simply can’t see the miraculous that is right in front of us.
One of the lowest, most impossible situations I have found myself in was the death of my mother. My mother was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer after only a short period of feeling ill. The prognosis was not good: she would not survive and would face months of pain. I prayed for her healing. I prayed for this impossible situation to be reversed. I prayed for her to be spared.
Three days after her diagnosis, my mother contracted a staph infection. My father called and asked us to come home. We all headed home to be by her side and within 48 hours, she had slipped into a coma and was gone. We were devastated. We wanted more time. But it was not to be.
Where had God been? Why didn’t God answer my prayers? Where was my miracle?
It was right in front of me. God hadn’t left my side. God had answered my prayers. It just took me some time to see it.
My mother was facing weeks and months of horrific pain and discomfort. But she died peacefully, without pain, fully ready to go home. And that was a miracle of mercy. It was an impossible situation, but God made a way.
Our dear Pat Renner, long time member of this congregation, suffered so at the end of her life yet she told me on our last visit that she knew that God would heal her. I didn’t say anything but I had every reason to believe she would not survive this last illness. Then she smiled and said, “It may not be in this life, but God WILL heal me.”
And I knew that she was right, and I celebrated that miracle of God’s gracious presence with her.
When Peter showed up at the house of some of Jesus’ followers, a maid named Rhoda answered the door and joyfully went to tell the others that Peter was alive and standing on their doorstep. But they didn’t believe it was him! They didn’t believe the miracle until they had a chance to see him and talk with him.
They were fortunate. Peter was able to talk with them and convince them that the impossible had been achieved, the miracle had occurred.
We too face impossible situations at times. Situations that threaten to strip us of our joy and hope. We pray for healing, for relief, for a return to normalcy. We are not always so fortunate as the early church members who saw Peter in front of them, but we too are visited by miracles.
It is a miracle that God has reached out and brought us here. It is a miracle that we have found each other to share our journey in faith, to comfort each other when we are in need, to celebrate with each other when we are able. It’s a miracle when babies are brought forward to be presented and dedicated to God.
Every where we turn we cannot help but see the God’s miraculous hand at work. Doctors and nurses transplant hearts and lungs and kidneys. You don’t think that’s a miracle? Against all odds, I have been witness to estranged families restored to wholeness after years of being broken. Every day, someone revels in the God’s magnificent creation and recognizes that all of life – all of creation – is a miracle.
We humans are a hard headed lot. We stubbornly want things to be a certain way and when they are not, too often we wonder why God didn’t do something. We may not always get the miracles we want. Our desire may not always be what transpires. But in the most impossible situations, God sees us through.
Gerald May has written, “miracles are nothing more than God’s ordinary truth, seen with surprised eyes.”
If we can learn to put our own desires aside, if we can learn to see God’s ordinary truth in everything we do, if we can learn to look for God rather than expecting God to come to us, we will see with those surprised eyes. And what we see will be miraculous. Thanks be to God!
Let us pray: Holy and gracious God, So often we find ourselves in impossible situations, sometimes of our own making, sometimes not. Help us to have the strength to ask for help, and to recognize that the impossible can be overcome, somehow, someway, if we will turn our attention to you and to your promise. All this we ask in the miraculous name of Jesus. Amen.
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